63:15 minutes (14.45 MB)

This spring Susan Ettenheim and Paul Allison are experimenting again. This time with Hypertextopia. We have just begun to explore with our students how writing changes in this online environment. To learn more, we invited Mark Bernstein and Jeremy Ashkenas to have a conversation with us.

• Mark Bernstein has been Eastgate's chief scientist since 1987. He has developed Storyspace and other hypertext software, and he is the publisher of wonderful hypertexts.
• Jeremy Ashkenas is working on Hypertextopia as a part of his final project for his undergraduate degree at Brown University.

We were inspired to invite the spunky programmer/publisher to talk with the upstart literature/computer undergrad after reading through this recent thread on if:Book. Listen to learn more about hypertext writing online, and join us at Hypertextopia!

 

Chat Log

 

 

48:41 minutes (22.28 MB)

We welcomed Mathew Needleman who discussed Video in the Classroom. Maria was unable to join us due to her mother's birthday (happy birthday to you!), Alice discussed attending Mathew's presentation at CUE last week. Her blog post is here it includes links to his presentation. We touched on...

• Why to use video in the classroom
• How to structure projects for success
• Resources to help you with projects
• Problems we had, and how to deal with them

Links

Mathew's video work: http://www.videointheclassroom.com
Digital Storytelling by Room36 Jose:
http://ia340929.us.archive.org/2/items/JoseRodriguezADigitalStoryAboutStorytelling/HumphreysDigitalStory.mov

Royalty Free Images for projects
http://www.pics4learning.com
http://www.morguefile.com
http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons

Content Links/Tutorials
http://www.flickschool.com, Marco Torres's site
http://www.videointheclassroom.com for monthly digital storytelling carnival
http:www.unitedstreaming.com for AFI's training films
Microsoft MovieMaker
Microsoft PhotoStory

Visit our blog at http://itselementary.edublogs.org

Chat Below

53:42 minutes (24.58 MB)

I'm joined by the two who "started it all" -- Jeff Lebow and Dave Cormier -- here at EdTechTalk.

Dave tells us about his work on the Living Archives Project at UPEI, and how he is using Drupal and Open Sim to "make history come alive" for the students and faculty they are working with on the project.

43:45 minutes (10.03 MB)

This is the first of two shows in November in which we are going to sandwich the National Writing Project's Annual Meeting with two special Teachers Teaching Teachers webcasts/podcasts, one before and one after the Annual Meeting: Nov. 15–17,

For this show we invited Writing Project Technology Liaisons who are coming to present in New York City to join us to give us a taste of what will be happening at this vital conference.

Listen to learn what it is that brings us together each year. Learn more about how Writing Project teachers are using digital storytelling (or digital composing) in their classrooms, in summer youth camps, and with other teachers in their local Writing Projects.

Joining Paul Allison, Susan Ettenheim, Lee Baber, and Woody Woodgate on this week's special Teachers Teaching Teachers were

• John Bishop, Red Clay Writing Project
• Clifford Lee, Bay Area Writing Project
• Bonnie Kaplan, Hudson Valley Writing Project
• Valorie Stokes, Prairie Lands Writing Project
• Paul Oh, National Writing Project

Learn more about the NWP's Annual meeting and these teachers at the Google Notebook that we set up for this webcast.

51:42 minutes (47.33 MB)Five teachers from the National Writing Project's Tech Matters`07 Institute joined Victoria, a soon-to-be 9th grader from Virginia, and Danielle, an 18 year-old student from Australia, to discuss what leads to effective learning with technology. The teachers from Tech Matters had been working with the theme of "compelling communication" in the hours before this webcast, and they were right to suspect that Victoria and Danielle might have pretty clear thoughts about how we teach students to use communication tools in schools now. On this webcast, we learned once again that teachers might benefit from listening more to what students say makes some assignments compelling and others not so compelling. The 2007 Horizon Report claims that "there is a skills gap between understanding how to use tools for media creation and how to create meaningful content. Although new tools make it increasingly easy to produce multimedia works, students lack essential skills in composition, storytelling, and design." The conversation on this webcast between Victoria and Danielle and the teachers from Tech Matters would seem to confirm this claim. These girls suggested that many of their teachers had a lot to learn about how to use the tools, and that teachers could learn from the students. At the same time, Victoria and Danielle seem to appreciate the teachers who had worked with them on "composition, storytelling, and design." Most of all these students seem to be saying that two of the most important elements in any school assignment were to be able to connect to real people outside of the school and to create projects are are personally meaningful for students. On this webcast, learning seemed to be happening in many different directions. Here's how one teacher Scott Floyd, from the Bluebonnet Writing Project in Texas described the webcast:

One, a ninth grader, was about to become the most connected student in her county.  Out of need, she is being given a loaded laptop that will allow her to be a seamless part of the classroom.  Her goal in life is to be a writer.  Good for her.  Her district seems to be doing what needs to be done to help her in every way possible.  I can’t wait for her to start honing her skills on her own blog.  

The other student, an eighteen year old from Australia, was not shy in the least bit.  She was asked hard questions about what teachers need to do to engage students with new tools.  She fired back answers that made us pause and reflect about our own actions in our instruction and how they alter the learning environment.  While she says her teacher, Jason Hando , is the best, she discussed how it was not an across the board feeling in all of her classes.  Then she asked what it would take to teach teachers how to be more in tune with technology and integrating skills.  Ouch.  Can anyone say, PD Bingo?  

Overall, the six of us that joined together here in Chico, CA, were very impressed with the student input.  The chat room, as usual, provided some great questions and running commentary about the conversation.  It bounces me back to the reflections from Karl Fisch and others about NECC: Where are the students at these events?   Bravo to Paul and the TTT folks for including them in the webcast.  We should all strive to include these most important voices in our tech planning.

52:10 minutes (23.88 MB)

This year several elementary school teachers--mainly Writing Project teachers--from California, Colorado, Mississippi, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon, and the Philippines sent each other podcasts and poetry and responses on a weblog, Youth Radio: Connecting Youth Voices to the World. These teachers have created a space where young writers and voices can connect with news stories about their communities, their schools and their interests!

That's all fine, but on this webcast Paul Allison and Lee Baber talked to two of the teachers behind this project, Glen Bledsoe and Kevin Hodgson. We never got to the student work because we spent the entire time learning more about each of these teachers as musicians and creative people outside of the classroom.

It's fascinating to hear the differences between the music that Lee and Glen share with us, and to imagine Kevin's sax! Yet what we all share is a passion for living creative, passionate lives in and out of the classroom.

We had a great time together, and we invite you listen in.

Click Read More, below to find a long list of links from Glen's amazingly diverse creative mind.